Albert Camus



"You will never be happy so long as you search for what happiness consists of. You will never live so long as you search for the meaning of life."
Albert Camus (1913-1960) although widely considered an existentialist thinker by not only his contemporaries, but even by literary critics today, was perhaps the most reluctant of the group to take upon this label. His texts, specifically of note The Outsider, The Just Assassins and The Plague, carry strong existential perspectives including a lack of profound emotion, and the absurdity of the human condition when faced with free will and determinism. He did not however represent the epitome of the existential thinking of the time as his viewpoints on religion and the creation of the self clashes severely with contemporaries like Jean Paul Sartre. His contribution however mostly for the philosophical and literary realms, should not be ignored on a political scope. Albert Camus' journalistic career included an article on the unhappy state of the Muslims in Alergia during french occupation which prompted the Algerian government to action. He similarly earned significant notoriety during the German occupation of France due to the Second World War. There he established himself as the editor of Le Combat, an important underground newspaper supporting French resistence to their oppressors. Camus expressed his philosophical views not only in his essays and article, but similar in novel and a play alike. Here he addressed not solely socio-political stances such as the justification of means towards ends, the greater good, and the necessary freedom from oppression, but also a reflection of his own emotional and psychological experiences. Camus here displayed his favour towards a life wrought with simple pleasures as opposed to profound emotional endeavours. Unfortunately, Camus too had his life cut short suddenly at the age of 47, much like Nietzsche at the peak of his philosophical and literary capacity. His name however is forver etched in stone with the likes of Voltaire, Descartes, and Hugo as one of the most important French mind in any recent memory. For his efforts, Albert Camus was awarded the nobel prize for literature.
Selected Readings
The Outsider (1946)
The Plague (1948)
The Rebel (1954)
The Myth of Sisyphus (1955)
The Fall (1957)
Exile and the Kingdom (1958)
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (published after his death, 1961)